By CURT RALLO * Tribune Staff Writer

November 12, 2009

It was in 2007 that Skylar Diggins held the coveted Indiana high school basketball state championship trophy aloft at Conseco Fieldhouse with her South Bend Washington teammates. Two years earlier, Melissa Lechlitner and the South Bend St. Joseph's Indians hoisted a state championship trophy at Conseco. This season, Diggins and Lechlitner will be working toward a common goal, striving to lead Notre Dame's Fighting Irish to the NCAA mountaintop at the Final Four in San Antonio. Lechlitner, a 5-foot-7 guard, enters her senior season. The Irish tri-captain earned MVP honors last season, averaging 10.6 points and 3.4 assists. Diggins boasts a fieldhouse full of honors. The 5-foot-9 freshman guard earned national high school player of the year honors last season. She averaged 29.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.2 blocks in the 2008-2009 campaign. "Skylar and I are pumped about it," Lechlitner said of the prospect of an all-South Bend backcourt for the hometown Irish. "It's going to be great. Hopefully, the fans are really going to be out here to support us. South Bend is such a great city, and to have a couple of South Bend girls on the team is great." Diggins doesn't think there will be any added pressure on her or Lechlitner to excel in front of the hometown fans. "I don't really think that there is any pressure,'' she said. "I've been playing basketball for a long time, and I've played in front of a lot of big crowds before." Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, who was able to fend off national rivals in order to win the recruiting battles over Diggins and Lechlitner, said the local products mean a lot to the program. "I think it says a lot about the quality of basketball in South Bend, and in Indiana in general," McGraw said. "There's great basketball in this area. It's exciting to watch. There's great fan support. The community is really involved. I think it's fun to continue to follow the kids you followed in high school for another four years. McGraw noted the importance of having a regional presence. "We try to recruit the Midwest. I know parents want to see their daughters play, and it's great for us to have those families in the stands. We're always looking at the best players in the state of Indiana and the Midwest. I think it has a positive effect, because the fans know our players. They knew them before they got here." Lechlitner and Diggins knew each other well before they set foot on the Notre Dame campus. In their one high school meeting, Diggins made a dominating impression. Washington beat St. Joseph's, 87-65, on Jan. 10, 2006, in front of a sold-out Washington gym of 3,500. Diggins, a freshman at the time, scored a career-high 43 points. She hit 14-of-21 shots, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Lechlitner scored 25 points to lead St. Joseph's. "Her freshman year, we played at Washington," Lechlitner said. "It was not a good game for us. I always knew she was going to be a great player, but that game ... she carried her team. She did some great things. You could tell she was going to be a great player." Lechlitner also thinks that the presence of two athletes from South Bend high schools in the Irish lineup is meaningful to the area. "I remember in high school, reading stories about how girls basketball in the area has grown and improved, and now to see two South Bend girls on Notre Dame's team, that's a statement to the work ethic of the girls in the area," Lechlitner said. As for Diggins, there are no disadvantages to the challenge of hometown expectations. "I've come to one of the best academic universities in the country with a huge athletic program, tradition, and I'm having a really good time," Diggins said.Staff writer Curt Rallo: crallo@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6152